Platform Lead - Core Housing and Digital Channels

Homes and Communities; Wellington; On-site; NZD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Five weeks’ annual leave

Insurance benefits

Career development opportunities

Flexible working arrangements

Job summary

Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities in Wellington seeks an experienced Platform Lead to own the performance, delivery, and continuous improvement of our Core Housing and Digital Platforms. You will lead a team of Platform DevOps Engineers and drive operational excellence across services.

This leadership role balances delivery priorities, reliability, and long-term sustainability, translating business strategy into platform roadmaps while ensuring secure, scalable services.

Qualifications

• Proven platform leadership with experience building high-performing teams.
• Experience delivering secure, reliable, and scalable platforms.
• Strong focus on incident and problem management, production support, and service reliability.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end platform lifecycle including delivery, operations, and continuous improvement.
• Lead an established team of Platform DevOps Engineers and Senior DevOps Engineers.
• Balance delivery priorities with operational stability and long-term platform sustainability.

Skills

Platform leadership

DevOps leadership

Incident management

Delivery leadership

Operational excellence

Team coaching

Job description

Platform Lead - Core Housing and Digital Channels

Homes and Communities – Wellington, North Island

• Own the end-to-end platform lifecycle, including delivery, operations, and continuous improvement
• Lead an established team of Senior DevOps Engineers
• Permanent role, 5 weeks leave + insurance benefits

Te whiwhinga mahi - Our opportunity

Kainga Ora are looking for an experienced Platform Lead to take ownership of the performance, delivery, and continuous improvement of our Core Housing and Digital Platforms. This is a leadership role responsible for ensuring platform services are secure, reliable, scalable, and aligned with business and technology objectives. As the Platform Lead, you will lead a team of Platform DevOps Engineers and Senior DevOps Engineers, driving a culture of operational excellence, continuous improvement, and high-quality delivery. You will balance delivery priorities, operational stability, and long-term platform sustainability, ensuring the platform continues to meet current and future organisational needs. You will act as the primary point of accountability for platform outcomes, fostering strong collaboration and enabling consistent, effective service delivery across the technology landscape.

Ngā pūmanawatanga ōu - What you will bring

You’ll be a proven platform leader with a strong track record of building high-performing teams and delivering secure, reliable, and scalable technology platforms that support business outcomes.

You will have proven experience across platform operations and delivery, including incident and problem management, production support, service reliability, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

Here’s what you will bring to the role:

• Strong experience working with relevant platform technologies, including experience in a Platform, Infrastructure, or DevOps leadership role
• Deep technical expertise and hands-on experience supporting, operating, and delivering business-critical applications and digital services
• Proven success leading Platform Engineering and DevOps teams, delivering reliable, scalable, secure, and business-aligned platform services
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop high-performing teams, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and servant leadership
• Experience translating business strategy and organisational priorities into platform roadmaps, delivery plans, and measurable outcomes
• Proven experience driving operational excellence through effective IT Service Management (ITSM), governance, compliance, service performance, and continuous improvement practices.

We are looking for a leader with strong technical credibility who can confidently engage in technical discussions, challenge assumptions, make informed technical decisions, and is prepared to be hands‑on when needed.

Nōu te rourou - What's in it for you?

We offer competitive salaries, five weeks' annual leave and a benefits package including a range of insurances, flexible working arrangements and career development. These benefits are described in more detail here https://careers.kaingaora.govt.nz/a-great-place-to-work/benefits As a Kāinga Ora - Homes and Communities employee, we want to make sure that you have all the tools and support you need. We want to ensure you are healthy and have work-life balance. We also want to support and grow your personal and career development through on-the-job learning, training courses, secondments and study opportunities.

Mō mātou - Our Organisation

At Kāinga Ora, ours is the important responsibility of transforming New Zealand’s housing choices, outcomes and the entire housing sector by creating homes and communities that allow New Zealanders to thrive. What is exciting about working for Kāinga Ora is getting the chance to make a real and positive impact on New Zealanders’ lives. With skills, planning and purposeful action, our people are creating the homes and neighbourhoods that will build the future of Aotearoa. We are passionate about transforming New Zealand for the better. That includes being a trusted partner for Māori and iwi, protecting and enabling their rights, interests and aspirations under the guidance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Ō tātou uara - Our values

• Manaakitanga – People at the Heart
• Mahi Tahi – Better Together
• Whanake – Be Bold

Tūhono mai - Join us

Applications close Monday 21st September at 11:55pm.

We value diversity and are committed to working with each other and our customers in an inclusive and respectful way. We welcome applicants from all walks of life and appreciate the richness of experience that your point of difference brings to the organisation. If you don’t tick all the boxes in this listing but think that you could be a great fit based on your unique background and skillset, we would welcome an application from you. Don’t hesitate, as we may review applications as they are received and reserve the right to close advertising early.